Halo Theta Group
by MasonZynoa1
Summary: James is a Spartan, doing his job and he holds some painful memories. His original team is dead, and he leaves his new team a few years later to join another. Mason then joins and fills the empty spot in the very same team as James.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: If you have read chapter 1 of my Son of the God of War story, I am doing something different with this one. If it gets 10 likes, then I will post Log 2.**

**Prologue**

**Part I**

Log 1

Log 2

Log 3

Log 4

Log 5

**Part II**

Log 6

Log 7

Log 8

Log 9

Log 10

**Part III**

Log 11

Log 12

Log 13

Log 14

Log 15

**Part IV**

Log 16

Log 17

Log 18

Log 19

Log 20

Theta Group Personnel

James: LongRange specialist

Jack: Tech specialist

Kyle: Recon specialist

Justin: Group leader

Duke: Heavy Weapon specialist

Rachel: Medical officer and short range specialist

Mason: World class Close-Combat specialist. Grenade specialist. DMR and Melee specialist.

**Prologue**

General Miles sat in his office waiting to debrief a man named Major Justin Morgan for his next assignment. The General had seen Morgan's file and was deeply impressed with the man's work.

He had had some small victories in both battles for Earth. The General frowned. _Earth,_ a place that was so close to him yet so far away.

Then there was a beep on his data pad. Miles looked at it and saw that he had received a message. The General opened it and saw that the man that he was meeting today was going to be a few minutes early. He typed in a reply.

I will be happy to see him now.

A couple of minutes went by and then he heard a knock at his door.

"Enter," Miles spoke.

A man entered. He was in his late thirties; the man had black hair with green eyes.

"You must be Justin am I correct?" General Miles asked him.

The man saluted.

"Yes sir," he replied.

"At ease, I want to talk to you about something important," Miles said, pulling up a chair for Justin.

Justin sat down and listened to the General.

"I received Intel that the Covenant has made their move and are heading to a remote planet called Nyllos. I want you to put together an elite team to see how the Covenant set up a base of operations,"

"Why me sir?" the Major asked.

The general smiled.

"You have the skills. I want you to start with a man named James Mallery. He is stationed aboard the UNSC _Iron Maiden_," The general informed him.

Justin stood up and saluted.

"Yes sir!"

"Dismissed," the General told him looking at Morgan's file again.

Log 1

Sergeant Major James Mallery sat in Hanger 18 adjusting his sights on his custom made S2 Am sniper rifle.

He fired off a round into an empty crate he had set up. The noise was about as loud a shotgun blast. Some other troops were looking at him like he was crazy. Mallery ignored them and walked over to the crate, he was two millimeters off of his target.

_Not good enough,_ he thought to himself.

Mallery walked back to his box and adjusted the scope a little more, then fired off another round. This time he was sure that he hit his mark. James walked back to the crate, and it was dead on.

_Perfect,_ Mallery thought.

"_James Mallery report to briefing room 7," _an intercom buzzed.

Mallery sighed. _Just as I was about to start my ricochet exercises,_ he thought. _How typical._ Mallery then dismantled his rifle and took the bag with him.

When Mallery walked in he saw that six others were waiting for him.

"Good, now that Mr. Mallery has joined us we can begin," spoke a man at the head of the table.

James leaned against a wall that gave him a good view of everyone in the room.

"You all have been hand picked by myself for a job that has never been done before. You are to take out a Covenant ship that is supposed to be dropping off supplies for the hostiles," the man told them.

One of the guys raised his hand.

"Yes Duke?"

"What happens if we get caught?" he asked.

"That won't happen. You all are Spartans, remember?" the man said.

Everyone nodded.

"Then you are the right people for the job," the man told them.

"James, I'm promoting you to Second Lieutenant," he told him.

James nodded in response.

"Dismissed," the man told them.

James walked out of the room.

"Hey you," spoke a voice.

James turned and saw one of the people that he was with ran up to him.

"What's your name?" he asked.

James' AI partner Echo appeared next to him.

Echo had the appearance of a normal civilian. His body had an orange 'fire' glow to it.

"Hello, my name is Echo, this is my partner James Mallery," the AI spoke. "Forgive me; James had an incident that resulted in indefinite damage to his vocal chords," Echo told the soldier.

"Oh wow. That's intense, anyway, my name is Kyle," he said holding out his hand.

James shook his hand and gave a low growl.

"We are pleased to meet you Kyle," Echo translated.

"This is my AI, Johnny," Kyle said. An ancient military soldier appeared.

James recognized the clothing of the AI to be a Green Beret.

"Greetings Echo," he spoke.

Echo frowned.

"Hello Johnny. Good to see you again," Echo said sternly.

_You know each other?_ James asked Echo.

"Yes, we met when we were first put into service. Johnny was created about three point seven seconds later then me," Echo told them.

"We must leave, James needs to continue his practice," Echo told Kyle.

Echo faded away and James turned and walked back to his room.

_Echo have you read Kyle's file?_ James asked the AI internally.

"Yes. Kyle Connors fought with your old friend Marcus at the first battle for Earth. He was then transferred to this vessel,"

James frowned; he hadn't seen Marcus since boot.

_Do you know where Marcus is now?_

"Searching… Marcus is MIA," Echo told James.

That made James even more upset. When a Spartan dies they are listed as MIA for a legend that Spartans never die.

James walked into a closed door; he buried his emotions back down and opened the door to his room and walked inside.

James' room is about the size of a small apartment. He had a living area with a fold out bed, a kitchen and a bathroom.

James removed his Extra Vehicular Activity helmet and looked at it.

The visor covered the entire front and the part of the top, some people called the helmet the 'fish bowl' for reason's James didn't care to know.

James removed his other armor components and placed them neatly on his couch and grabbed his wrist gauntlet. He removed Echo from his helmet and inserted him into the gauntlet.

James then looked at himself in the mirror.

Apart from the scar he had at the lower part of his neck, and how pale he was he was perfectly fine. James walked outside his room to see a box waiting for him. He bent over and picked it up. He opened it to see his badge for his new rank. When he had his new bars, James went to the closest watch point. Mallery typed in his code and walked in the room, it was a lounge area with glass windows. When he sat down he clicked his gauntlet. He typed in a question for Echo.

_Who is with us on this assignment?_

Echo replied.

"The roster consists of us, Jack Nallet, Rachel Johnson, Duke Austin, Justin Morgan and Kyle Connors,"

James typed in another question; _what is their skill set?_

"Jack has unique skills with technology. He rewired a Pelican during boot and attempted to escape. Rachel has the highest scores on the standard UNSC medical tests and is also a highly advanced close quarter's combatant," he spoke.

"Duke is very fond with heavy weapons. Justin Morgan's file however is restricted from my view,"

James asked about Kyle.

"Mr. Kyle Connors has the stealth of a ninja. I would be cautious around him,"

James typed in one word: _Noted_.

Then the intercom buzzed: _Theta group suit up and report to Hanger 18_.

James looked at each of his new team members. Echo's description of each matched perfectly. Justin looked anxious, due to the fact that he was pacing back and forwards waiting for Kyle.

"Does anyone know were Kyle is?" he asked.

James jerked his thumb behind him and Kyle froze.

"That's the first time anyone's spotted me," He said a little shocked as he walked passed James.

"First time for every thing Kyle," Echo told him.

Justin cleared his throat.

"Now that Kyle is here, Jack,"

Jack nodded and tossed a disk into the middle of the group. Then the disk glowed, and a hologram of the area appeared.

"This is our drop point, three hundred clicks south east of our destination,"

The hologram moved and it now showed a city.

"This is our destination, the city called Nallet. Our drones reported heavy Covenant activity here," Justin informed the group.

"What about civilians?" Rachel asked.

"There are none, Covenant doesn't leave people alive. That was clear when they attacked Reach," Echo spoke.

Everyone looked at Echo.

"Mallery why is your AI talking to us?" asked Justin.

"We have special permission from the Office of Naval Intelligence. Since James' incident back before the Covenant," Echo corrected him.

"ONI? Those scumbags," Jack said suddenly.

"Those 'scumbags' hired us to tag along," Echo told Jack sternly.

"Wait why?" asked Justin,

"The reason is classified information," Echo replied.

Justin sighed.

"Ok. This is how we're going to do this. I want two teams; green group will be me, Jack, and Kyle. Blue group will be Rachel, James and Duke," Justin spoke.

"Rachel, you will be in charge of Blue group," Justin said turning to her.

Rachel's acknowledge light went green.

"Good, now let's move out," he said.

The team packed their gear inside a Pelican drop ship and exited the hanger.

A few hours passed and then Justin made a circle motion with his right index finger and covered it with his left hand. Everyone's acknowledging lights bleeped.

They all braced themselves.

The cabin went dark and then a red light flashed.

The Spartans unbuckled themselves and lined up single file. The back door slowly opened and Theta Group jumped out. When they hit the ground, Justin motioned James to the cliff.

James nodded in response and slowly ran up to the hill side. He then lowered himself onto the ground and activated his R.H.D (Rifle to Helmet Display).

"We have small groups of Grunts moving from the ten o'clock and another three clicks east of that group," Echo told James.

_Forward the data to Justin._ James told Echo.

"Forwarding,"

Justin received a view of what James was looking at. Then he gave the group the order to take them out.

"Justin gives the order to annihilate the hostiles," Echo told James.

James smiled.

He loaded a round into the chamber and set his sights on the furthest Brute and opened fire. The custom rounds pierced the Brutes head like it was water. The Grunts panicked and started to scurry about.

Four shots and four Grunts fell. James then switched to a DMR and jumped off the cliff. James saw that Kyle had reached the second group ahead of him. James smiled at this.

"Kyle it seems that James had already took down this group," Johnny said.

"File that under shit I already know," Kyle said.

He bent down and saw that the bullet had gone through the head of the Brute clean.

"He's good, I'll give him that," Kyle said smiling. He then turned and snuck his way down the path. Then Kyle blinked his light three times; the signal to take cover. He climbed the nearest tree and watched as a platoon of Covenant soldiers passed right underneath him. A Brute saw his dead companion and started sniffing the air. He barked orders to the Jackals. Then the Jackals started to scan the area.

Justin blinked his light twice.

Kyle blinked his once.

He then took out his knife and jumped on the Brute snapping his neck.

Then all the Jackals fell over dead.

Kyle looked up and saw that James was still far behind.

Kyle thought this interesting.

"Hey Johnny, when James had his incident, what happened?" Kyle asked.

"James Mallery suffered six shots to the throat during OPERATION: Savage. His Brother John gave him his AI so that he could speak to others. Records show that since his injury, Mallery has increased his skill by at least three hundred percent. His file also say's that he once lost someone close to him and since then has shown no sign of emotional response to anything as far as we know," Johnny informed him.

"Who was it?" Kyle asked him.

"A girl named Kristina," Johnny told him.

"It turns out it was the same man. The person who killed her shot James in the throat. When James encountered the man again, he killed him with his bare hands," Johnny said, playing a clip from a security camera. Kyle watched in horror as James grabbed the man's head and snapped it like it was a toothpick.

"Remind me never to piss him off," Kyle said.

"Noted," Johnny replied.

James caught up with the group and saw that Kyle had snapped the Brutes neck. He then thought back to the man he killed in revenge for Kristi.

_Has he read my file?_ James wondered.

"I would think so," Echo told him.

_Really?_ James asked Echo.

"Yes, I would want to know as much as I could about my team mates as possible," Echo told him.

_I see then._ James thought to himself. James looked down and saw that the Brute he killed carried a Brute Shot.

James picked up the alien weapon, smiled and gave a growl. The group stopped suddenly and tensed because the growl had startled them.

James growled again and the group looked at him.

Justin gave him the shut up gesture.

James continued to smile as he shouldered his rifle and carried the Shot with him the rest of the way.

Justin frowned at James,

"Eric you said that James reminded you of someone you knew?" he asked.

"Correct. The complete data is restricted but I would be careful around James, if history were to repeat itself," Eric responded.

"Wait… what?" Justin said.

"If history were to repeat itself then we all are doomed," Eric said.

"You mean there was someone like James before?" Justin said a little worried.

"Yes but I do not have access to the required files to show you who I am talking about," Eric informed him.

"I understand," Justin said. Justin opened a channel to the entire team.

"Ok everyone this is where we split, Blue Team will enter through here and my team will enter two streets to the left," Justin ordered.

Five acknowledge lights bleeped.

Justin opened a private channel to James.

"I don't want you to do anything stupid understand Mallery?"

James nodded in response.

"Good," then he killed the channel.

Justin walked with his team to the streets and he opened a manhole.

"Everyone in the tunnel, move!" he barked at them.

One by one the team went underground and occasionally Jack would stick an optic lens through a manhole cover.

"See anything?" Kyle asked Jack.

"Nope nothing, this place is as populated at a ghost town… wait yea there's our problem," Jack said.

He fed the feed to his team mates.

Justin saw that the Covenant had a flagship landing in the middle of the city.

"This situation got a whole lot worse," Justin said frowning.

James watched as Green team walked away. Then he turned to Rachel waiting for orders.

"Ok James I want you to scout ahead and see if there is anything, then if there is, Duke will blow it up and I'll finish off any survivors," Rachel said. The team walked for a while and found nothing.

"Something doesn't add up, Intel said there should be…"

"_Blue leader this is green Leader," _Spoke Justin's voice.

"Go ahead Green Leader," Rachel spoke.

"_The Dog has seized the Duck; I repeat the Dog has seized the Duck," _Justin spoke.

Rachel froze.

"Are you sure?"

"_Affirmative,"_ Justin replied.

"Blue leader out," she killed the channel. "We've got a problem. The Covenant has a Flagship docked on the very center of the city. Intel failed to inform us that we would be taking out a Flagship," Rachel informed them.

"Then again when is Intel ever accurate?" Duke asked.

Rachel looked at James.

"James, Get a top that building and find where that Flagship is," Rachel ordered.

James nodded and walked to the door only to find it locked. He growled and stepped back a few paces and opened fire with the brute shot. The grenades dented the door but it didn't open. James walked over to it and punched the door with his hands and feet.

"JAMES!" Duke yelled.

James turned, saw Duke with his rocket launcher and rolled to the side.

"Fire in the Hole!" Duke yelled as he sent a projectile into the door.

The door blew inward and broke.

James walked inside the building and headed for the roof.

Rachel looked at Duke and opened a private channel to him.

"Hey, do you trust him?" she asked curiously.

"Justin does, for reasons beyond my comprehension, I trust him for now," Duke said switching the safety to the 'on' position. "Why?"

"I read his file, all of it; James is just as dangerous as he looks. Who knows what kind of mental state he's in right now, for all we know he could be on the very cliff of his mental status," Rachel said looking at her Magnum.

James slowly made his way to the top floor. The sun was setting, and soon he would be in his own playground. The dark made James feel easier because he grew up in the shadows; away from all the eyes of the UNSC. ONI made sure that he would be their surprise guest at the party they set up for the Covenant. James smiled at this thought.

'_Every party needs a crasher,'_ he told ONI before his injury.

A person who worked at ONI had been like a father to him; James Ackerson the man who started the Spartan III project. He treated Mallery like he was his son. James remembered something Ackerson once told him.

"_Sooner or later we all must choose between what is right and what is easy,"_

When James reached the roof, he blinked his acknowledge light once.

He waited for Rachel's to blink.

A few seconds went by and James asked Echo what has happened.

"Duke's bio signs are skyrocketing, however Johnson's lines are dead," He said grimly.

James looked around the roof and saw a window washer platform. He took out his knife, cut the cable and jumped off the side.

Duke cursed repeatedly. The covenant somehow jammed their transmissions so he couldn't have called for backup. He looked at Rachel's body and grew angry but before he could do anything, he saw a white mass crash into the ground on top of a hunter, ending its life. The next few seconds were a blur because an Elite turned to see what happened and got a face full of knife. Then he saw that it was Mallery this whole time. James killed all of the soldiers with out missing a beat.

Duke signaled for James, who came to his side and for the first time, that Duke had seen, removed his helmet and knelt beside Rachel's body.

James had pale skin like Duke's but his eyes were a dark grey color. His hair was all wet and flat. James looked up at Duke and mouthed one word; _How?_

Duke informed James that the blast from his rocket attracted a nearby Phantom. The rest James understood. He removed Rachel's helmet and was about to close her eyes, but he stopped suddenly.

_Echo she looks exactly like…_

"I know James, she has the same features as Kristina did," Echo finished for him.

James looked back at Duke.

_Did she have an AI?_ He mouthed.

Duke shook his head and removed his helmet.

Duke had brown hair and green eyes. His face had claw marks that covered the front.

He gave a small smile.

"I worked on a farm before I joined, a pack of wolfs got to one of the pig crates and luckily I was walking home," he told James.

James nodded in understanding and closed Rachel's eyes.

He pulled up the team's roster and labeled her as MIA.

"_Rest in peace,"_ James and Echo spoke together.

Duke put his helmet back on and checked on Green team's Bio signs and saw that they too were in trouble.

Kyle slowly made his way through the network of tunnels.

"Clear," he whispered to his team mates.

Jack ran to his side and pulled out a data pad.

"Left and in twenty blocks we should be underneath the gravity lift to the Flagship," Jack said.

"Hold up," Justin said. He looked at Blue teams roster. "We just lost Rachel," he said stunned.

Everyone turned and looked at him.

"What?" Kyle asked suddenly.

"Blue team this is Green Leader, do you copy?" Justin said.

Static replied,

"Blue Team, do you copy?" Justin repeated.

"_Justin, it's Duke_," his voice seemed uneven.

"You are one man down. Confirm?" Justin asked.

Duke's acknowledge light blinked once.

Justin's heart sank.

"Fall back and regroup where we split," He ordered.

Duke's light blinked again.

James carried Rachel's body with one hand and his rifle with the other. When Theta Group got together, James carefully lowered Rachel's body down. He looked at the group, they all removed their helmets, and James wore the 'mask' of no emotion as he removed his helmet.

"We need to say a few words for her," Justin said.

Everyone nodded. When everyone had said something, James cleared his throat.

"_Rachel Johnson died doing what we do best, killing Covenant. She will always be remembered for her charming attitude during hard times. I will always have a place in my heart for you Rachel,_" James spoke with his real voice. Everyone looked at him in amazement.

"_Yes this is my real voice,_" James told the team.

"_I was able to speak after my surgery. However, Kristi's death shook me to the roots of myself. Rachel reminds me of Kristi so much, that I found my voice again,_" James spoke.

"That's deep stuff," Jack said.

"Why now?" asked Justin.

"_I don't understand sir,_" James said confused.

"Why speak now?" Justin wondered.

"Didn't you hear what James said? He told us, 'Rachel reminds me of Kristi so much, that I found my voice again'" Kyle said quoting James.

Justin looked at James.

"_Yes, it's true. When I saw Rachel's file, I thought that Kristi had a sister, but I knew that was a lie,_" James said.

He coughed up a little blood and spat to the side,

"I don't understand still," Justin said rubbing his forehead.

"_In time you will_," James told him.

He got up and walked towards the city.

"Where are you going?" asked Justin.

"_In the city,"_ James replied as he put on his helmet.

"Yea, I know that but why?" questioned Morgan.

"To finish this fight," James said. He loaded his Brute Shot and rifle and headed to the Flag Ship.

Justin watched in shock as James walked away as if nothing had happened. He placed his helmet back on.

"Did you record all of that?" he asked Eric.

"Indeed I did, I will save it for the General when we-"

"No," Justin interrupted.

"Sorry?" Eric asked confused.

"That's the last thing _he_ needs to see. Keep that file stored in my private files," Justin ordered.

"Understood," Eric said.

Justin turned to Duke, Kyle, and Jack.

"We need to bury the body. If the Covenant gets their hand on this armor…"

They nodded and set to work.

James slowly made his way to the Flagship and when he got to the Grav Lift, he scanned the field.

"Thirty Grunts, twenty Jackals, five Brutes, and four Hunters and no Elites, this is going to be easy," Echo said.

James smiled.

"How many of the brutes have Shots?" he asked looking at his ammo counter in his HUD.

"Three, the other two have Hammers," Echo told him.

"Perfect," James said.

James pulled out his rifle and aimed at a crate of Plasma Grenades and fired one round. The bullet, as always, hit a grenade sending off a channeled explosion. The Aliens realized what was happening and scanned the area for the sniper. James loaded a new round and switched to full auto. Then he mowed down all the Grunts and reloaded a fresh clip of fifty rounds. Then he took out the Jackals, not wasting any extra ammo. Three Hunters started moving towards his position but James fired into a building, three rounds ricocheting into each Hunter.

"James, enemy reinforcements are being deployed now," Echo informed him. James jumped off the building and landed on the last Hunter who gave a low growl as it died. He then shouldered his rifle for his Shot and stocked up on ammo for it. He then stood in the center of the Grav. Lift and looked up. "Pay back time," He spoke.

James looked around and saw no Covenant soldiers patrolling the area.

"Enable the T.S.S.," James whispered. Then his entire HUD went blue.

"Activate Camo and Silencer," He ordered. There was a small _bleep_ and James slowly made his way to the center of the ship. On the way he had flashbacks to Operation: SAVAGE.

27 YEARS EARLER

James laughed at the team that he was with. He had Michael, himself, Kristina, Jude, and Bill.

They were inside enemy territory and James was magnetically attached to the ceiling of the room. Every one was doing the job perfectly, get behind enemy lines and flush them out to the other teams outside the structure. There was one small problem; the job didn't say that the leader that he was supposed to assassinate was his own brother Luke.

He had Luke in his sights but he couldn't pull the trigger on his own bro. Kristina attempted to creep up behind and stab him in the neck but he turned and knocked the knife from her hands and drew his pistol and shot her in the head at point blank.

"NO!" James yelled as he dropped down, tossed his rifle to the side and took out his Knife, cutting down everyone that stood between him and Luke. When he got there Luke was smiling.

"Greetings brother,"

"You're not my Brother," James said with contempt.

He charged at Luke but then he saw a muzzle flash and a pain in his throat and then when he fell on the ground, Luke stood over him.

"Rest in Peace brother,"

That was the last thing he saw before waking up in the hospital bed.

PRESENT DAY

James snapped the neck of an Elite and pictured Luke there and not the Elite. Then he killed the rest without even flinching. James then remembered his brother's last words.

"_Got you bro,"_

James grew angrier and placed all of his signature time-bombs on the Slipspace Engine. Then set the timer for ten minutes.

He opened a channel to his team.

"Guy's the engine is rigged to blow and it will detonate in ten minutes, so get some cover as fast as you can,"

"_Where did you get the explosives?" _Duke said.

"I made them out of Covenant weapons," James told them.

"_Mallery, will ten minutes be enough?"_ Justin asked.

"Yes, I'm starting the countdown now," James said pressing the countdown starter. The timer started ticking down.

_9:58_

James turned and ran as fast as he could to the nearest hanger.

_6:45_

He ran into some friends and had a small party.

_1:47_

He climbed onto a Banshee and started to take off when an explosion shook the small vehicle.

"Warning the left wing has suffered heavy damage," Echo told him.

James flew it out of the hanger and the last thing he needed was to die.

He glanced at his timer

_0:69_

He opened a channel.

"Guys I'm not going to make it," he spoke shaken.

"_Mallery, I order you to double time it!" _Justin yelled_._

"I understand sir," James replied and hit the boosters and flew at least three hundred miles per hour.

_0:03_

James closed his eyes and prepared for the worst.

_0:02_

He remembered Kristina, Rachel and his brother Luke.

_0:01_

"I will never…"

A bright light enclosed his vision.


	2. Chapter 2

LOG 2

The explosion was so massive. Justin had to look away from the intensity of the glare.

_Shit, Mallery._ He thought.

"Sir?" asked Kyle.

Justin stared at the ground; he had just lost two team mates in one mission.

Before he said anything Duke shouted.

"Look!"

Justin saw a Banshee flying towards them and it was damaged heavily.

It hit the ground hard and skidded to a halt in front of the group. The canopy opened and James stepped out.

"Remember what I said I would do?" he asked his friends.

"I told you that I 'would finish this fight,'"

James removed his helmet and looked at his team.

"We completed the mission and now let's go home.

Three months later

Kyle frowned at the new team members in the Mess Hall. Steven was a world class sniper, almost as good as James was, and this other guy, was as silent as James was during the mission. Kyle was looking over a mission plan when he heard that the replacements had arrived.

_Replacements my ass_ he thought.

Kyle looked at the Recruits files and was not impressed. They had similar status as James had before he transferred to another team. As soon as they had returned from their last mission, James had walked straight to the General and demanded to transfer to another team.

"You ok Kyle?" Steven asked him.

"Yea, just thinking about some things," he replied.

"Oh, ok. What's the deal with this Mallery?" Steven asked.

"What?" Kyle said a little annoyed.

"The guy who transferred, I heard that he was the best sniper in the UNSC," the new guy said. "Is it true that he's mentally unstable?"

"Who told you such things?" Kyle said angry.

Steven knew he had hit a nerve.

"It… was just… rumors, I just wanted to know if they were true," he said looking at his food.

Kyle smiled.

_Time to mess with the rookie_ he thought.

"Some of them are true, like the one about his girlfriend being killed right in front of him, the one where he took out an entire flagship by himself. However, he was not mentally unstable, people will say anything these days just to keep them from dying from boredom," Kyle whispered.

"What about his disappearance?" Steven asked.

"What?" Kyle said surprised.

"Apparently he was on a ship when something went wrong. They sent out another ship to investigate, but they found out that everyone was dead. When they checked the Security Cameras they say that an invisible mass killed everyone there. Mallery was the only survivor because he was 'spared' by the thing. If you ask me,"

Steven looked around to make sure no one was listening and leaned in closer. "I think that James killed everyone on board,"

With out warning Kyle threw a right hook and sent Steven off the table.

Steven got up and looked at Kyle with anger.

"What the hell man!" he spoke rubbing his jaw.

Kyle got up and left the Mess Hall in silence.

_No way had Mallery killed them_. He walked to the General's office and knocked.

"Enter," spoke a voice.

When Kyle walked in he saw James sitting across from the General's seat.

"James? What are you doing here?" Kyle asked surprised.

James got up and shook Kyle's hand.

"Good to see you too," he said smiling.

"James was just informing me of the _Juggernaut incident_," the General said.

"'Juggernaut incident'?" Kyle asked.

"Yes, that _thing_ that killed everyone on the ship but me," He said.

"I see, care to tell me more?" Kyle asked him.

"Not much to tell, but I'll say what I can,"

A few months prior

I sat in my room looking over passed mission logs to see if I could improve on my stats when the general alarm started wailing. I grabbed my helmet and walked outside. I watched people run towards the hangars and I wanted to check on the bridge. I was running when I saw Matt running for his life.

"Matt, what's happening?" I asked him.

He looked over his shoulder as if someone was following him.

"There's a problem, the last crew ship that entered, had three men registered and we saw that four men left the ship when it landed,"

I didn't understand.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We're under attack!" he yelled and ran towards his room.

I keyed in the passcode to unlock the armory and grabbed my sniper rifle. I then went into my sniper's perch and activated my R.H.D., looking for this intruder. Suddenly fellow soldiers were being cut down and shot from nowhere. So I aimed my sights at the direction the bullets came from and shot. A clean shot right through the head of an Elite. I checked the logs and saw that almost all the crew was dead. I took the Camo system from the Elite and decided to install it into my armor. But something went terribly wrong and I wasn't in control of my actions as I killed my comrades, hidden by camo from the Security Cameras.

Present Day

James had chosen to leave out that last part, seeing as they might Court Marshall him for it. The General and Kyle looked at him for a while then each other before the General spoke.

"Well alright Mallery, thanks for the debriefing, dismissed, Spartans." They saluted and left right away. James headed for his room and took off his EVA helmet. James checked the logs again as he always did, and saw there was a new Spartan coming in to fill up the space in his team.

"Sierra 777, Brigadier General Mason Night. Top of his class in hand to hand combat, He tested 98 percent accuracy with grenades, UNSC and plasma. Top marks with a DMR, energy sword, and Grav hammer. I'd say he's one not piss off with his wide skill of weaponry. Also out-ranks Kyle in stealth. The rest is level 30 restricted." Echo said.

"Noted, what Hangar did he arrive in?" James replied.

"Hangar Seven, aboard the UNSC _Ares Elite,_" Echo answered. James put back on his helmet and ran towards Hangar Seven to greet this new team member.

The Ares Elite docked into the hangar in a matter of moments, and the pilot and a few marines stepped out. Last one off was the new Spartan, Mason. He had a Mark V helmet with seriously strong armor. James noticed no chips in his armor but a few polished scratches. Mason walked toward the General who, for a moment, had fear in his eyes but interest as well. Mason nodded to him and went to stand by Justin, so James thought. He hadn't noticed that Mason had vanished even though it was barely a minute he had stood there. "Interesting indeed, Echo" James said in response to Echo's previous statement. James smiled inside his helmet and followed Mason to his new quarters.

Mason turned around and tried to give a roundhouse kick to James, but was unsuccessful.

"So, you're the new guy huh?" James asked.

Mason nodded.

"What's it to you?"

James took off his helmet and grinned.

"I'm Colonel second class, James Mallery. Also known as Spartan 227,"

Mason didn't seem impressed by James' progress. He merely gave the smile gesture on his helmet. Then turned and walked inside his room.

James noticed on the back of his helmet was a green flame surrounding a black fist.

Mason's door slid shut with a click, meaning he locked his door with a pass code. James put his helmet back on and walked to his quarters.

"Echo, can you identify the symbol that was on the back of his helmet?" James asked.

A file opened up on his visor of a team named _Canis Lupus._ James skimmed the files. James then looked at the symbol on his right hand; a radioactive purple heart. James frowned because it was the same team symbol that was given to him during Operation: SAVAGE and it started to fade. He made it to his room and walked in. James took out the A.I. chip that Echo was stored in and installed him onto his personal computer. Then he removed his helmet and crossed his arms.

"Echo, play file number 13857-27X-B,"

A picture of Echo appeared on the upper left hand corner.

"Sure thing,"

There was a beep and a new window appeared.

James leaned over and taped the play command.

A girl appeared from off camera and sat down.

_"He James, I wanted to tell you that I have some news,"_ the girl was had Blond hair cut military style and green eyes.

_"I've been promoted and now I'm in charge of my own ship can you believe it?"_ the girl said smiling.

James smiled at the girl.

"Yes Kristi, I can,"

_"My ship's name is the 'Lost Island' it's a prototype. It's for recon operations, my specially, so I'll be the best captain for the job,"_ She said smiling still.

_"I miss you a lot; hope all is well, end vidmessage,"_

The file ended.

James frowned.

"I miss you too,"

He walked over to his fridge and opened a bottle of scotch and poured a glass. He walked back to his computer played a different log of Kristi.

James then took out his magnum and closed his eyes.

_"Killing yourself isn't going to bring me back James,"_ Kristi on the video log spoke.

James looked at the video.

"What?"

Kristi smiled.

"_I said 'killing yourself isn't going to bring me back_,'"

_I must be hallucinating._ James thought.

He put down his gun and rubbed his eyes, then looked back at the video.

Kristi was still looking at him.

"What the hell?" James said leaning in towards his computer.

_"James, you can't blame yourself for my death,"_ Kristi said.

"How are you doing this?" James asked.

_"I know you too well, I guess?"_ Kristi laughed.

James frowned.

"Who says I'm not blaming myself?"

_"Your tone gave it away,"_ Kristi told him.

James grabbed his gun again and loaded a round into the chamber.

_"James, don't do this," _Kristi spoke to him.

James ignored her and rested his chin on the barrel. He closed his eyes and remembered Kristi and Rachel.

There was then a knock at his door. James opened his eyes and holstered his magnum. When he opened the door, Mason was standing on the other side.

"What do you want?" James asked him.

"I thought I would introduce myself," Mason said holding out his hand.

James shook it and let Mason into his room.

When he shut the door, James frowned.

"Sorry about the mess, I was thinking about an old friend of mine,"

Mason laughed.

"Its ok bro, yours it cleaner then mine,"

James walked back to his computer and sat down.

"Is that your 'old friend'" Mason asked nodding towards James' computer.

James frowned.

"Yea, that's her,"

"How long?" Mason asked.

James looked at the paused video of Kristi and liked his lips.

"Too long," he said closing the file.

"Anyway, my name's Mason. I think you might have read my file, if I know you right," Mason said.

James nodded.

"Yea, just briefly though. You got some talent."

Mason nodded.

"You too, how long have you been enlisted?"

James looked at the ceiling.

How long had it been? It seemed like millions years ago that he was selected for the new SPARTAN program.

"About 80 years,"

Mason leaned back in the chair.

"Wow 80 years, what is it like?"

James frowned.

"Life changing," he looked at Mason. "How long for you?"

"I'm going on my…60th year," Mason said proudly.

"Congrats," James said as he poured Mason a drink. "You want some? It's against regulations, but sometimes rules are meant to be broken,"

Mason nodded. James smiled and handed him the drink. Mason took it and smiled.

"To a new friendship, may it last till the end of days," James said happily as he and Mason touched glasses. They both took a swig after Mason lifted his helmet slightly before setting his down a little bit faster then James.

"So what's your story James?" Mason asked. "How did you get here?"

James laughed.

"It's a long story, but I'll tell you,"

When James finished his tale, Mason licked his lips.

"So, operation: SAVAGE is where you were made a Sergeant Major?" Mason asked him.

James frowned.

"Yep, it's also when I lost Kristi. I think you're the only one who I've told the whole story to,"

Mason looked at his helmet.

"What about the folks at ONI?"

James smiled.

"I'm Mr. Naval Intelligence,"

Mason shook his head

"Bullshit,"

James walked over to his desk and tossed Mason his ID.

James Mallery

Level 27 clearance

Office of NavAl Intelligence

Id Number: 0199287-15278641

Mason handed James' ID card back and smiled.

"That explains why I didn't have access to your files,"

James smiled.

"I read about the team you were with previously,"

Mason's smile gesture faded.

"Oh yea, those guys," he said sadly.

Three Years Ago

It was another normal mission. Canis Lupus was to clear and destroy a Covenant flagship. My leader, Nikolai, sent me in first. As a Grunt had thrown a plasma grenade, I threw a regular grenade, colliding with the other and causing it to return to the Grunt. It ran around when it got stuck and blew up two other Grunts, a Jackal, and an Elite. I picked off the Covenant easily as I went through the ship, the team following behind me. That's when everything started going terribly wrong. It turned out someone gave us false info. This was no flagship; it was a Covenant Mother ship. The main hanger was swarming with Elites with swords, Brutes with hammers and Brute shots, and many Hunters. Lyla was the first to go. She was our team medic, killer with a shotgun, and my girlfriend. She got blasted by a Hunter out of our view… burned right through the armor. Steve was next as we got down to the fourth floor. He was stabbed by a camouflage hidden Elite. He was our heavy weapons specialist. Weiss was third to go. His head was bashed in by three Brute Chieftains. Weiss was the team's assault rifle specialist. Hannah followed after; she was ripped through by a Hunter's shield. Hannah was our stealth and recon. Last was Nikolai, blown apart by fuel rod cannons. He was the sniper. Out of rage and sadness I slaughtered all in my path and made sure to set the charges in the main engine room, leaving in what was now my ship, The UNSC _Ares Elite_.

Present Day

As Mason finished his story he took off his helmet, his eyes dark green. He had black hair with purple tips, non-regulation scene cut. Along the bridge of his nose was a cut as well as three across his right cheek to his jaw. He had ringed snakebites as well. His skin was tan like a surfer's but his voice had an Irish accent. Just the look in his eyes carried a lot more pain and anger than James had ever seen or could imagine. James was silent for a moment before he spoke.

"That wasn't in the file I had read..." James said slowly, still holding his glass.

"I hacked the file logs and labeled that classified above even the Doctor Halsey's pay grade. No one but Ares and I know the truth of what happened that mission." Mason said sadly.

"Ares? Your AI I presume." James said as his AI Echo materialized on his wrist gauntlet.

"Yeah, he and I have been through a lot together." Mason said as he took the chip out of his helmet and inserted it into his wrist. Ares materialized a moment later, wearing Earth armor from Greece.


End file.
